Inkjet head and method of manufacturing inkjet head

Abstract

In a method of manufacturing an inkjet head having head chip 1 , including driving walls 13 composed of piezoelectric element and channels 14 arranged alongside alternatively, an outlet port and an inlet port provided on front and rear surfaces respectively for each channel, and driving electrode 15 to apply drive voltage to driving wall 13 formed inside the channel, jets ink in channel 14 from a nozzle by causing shear deformation to driving wall 13 by applying voltage to electrode 15 , wherein the groove is cut on the rear surface of the head chip across a channel array substantially parallel so as to cut away a portion of the driving walls 13 to a predetermined depth.

1. A method of manufacturing an inkjet head having a head chip to jet ink in each channel from a nozzle by causing shear deformation to a driving wall by applying voltage to a driving electrode, comprising steps of:
 forming a plurality of driving walls composed of piezoelectric elements and channels alongside alternatively in the head chip; 
 providing outlet ports and inlet ports respectively on a front surface and a rear surface of the head chip; 
 forming the driving electrodes in the channels to apply voltage so as to drive the driving walls; and 
 recessing the rear surface of the head chip by cutting at least portions of the driving walls across the channels to form a groove that communicates with each channel; and 
 covering the groove from the rear surface to form an ink supply channel to supply ink commonly to inside each channel. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of manufacturing the inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein the groove is cut so as to obtain a desired drive length (L length). 
     
     
       3. The method of manufacturing the inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein the groove is cut through a dicing saw along the channel array. 
     
     
       4. The method of manufacturing the inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein the groove is cut with leaving portions of the driving electrodes. 
     
     
       5. The method of manufacturing the inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of channel arrays are formed and the groove is cut to correspond with each channel array. 
     
     
       6. The method of manufacturing the inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of channel arrays are formed and the groove is cut across the channel arrays. 
     
     
       7. The inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein connection electrodes to be connected with driving electrodes electrically are formed on the rear surface of the head chip, a wiring substrate in which wiring electrodes corresponding to the connection electrodes are formed is bonded so that the connection electrodes are electrically connected with ends of the wiring electrodes, the wiring substrate has a jetty section which projects from the head chip in a direction perpendicular to the channel array, and the other ends of the wiring electrodes are extended up to the jetty section. 
     
     
       8. The inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein the wiring substrate has a concave section which extents along a direction of the channel array on a bonding surface with the head chip, and an ink supply chamber to supply ink commonly to inside each channel is formed by bonding the wiring substrate on the rear surface of the head chip so that the concave section covers the inlet port of each channel. 
     
     
       9. The inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein the wiring substrate has an opening section which opens at least to the inlet port of each channel, and the opening section forms a common ink chamber so as to supply ink commonly to inside of each channel. 
     
     
       10. The inkjet head of  claim 1 , wherein a drive length (L length) of the channel is 0.5 to 1.5 mm and a head chip length is 1.5 mm to 2.5 mm.